About this episode Join us for 'Around the Horn,' a comprehensive weekly overview of all 30 MLB teams. This deep dive covers recent scores, current standings, notable trades, upcoming matchups, and pivotal updates shaping the season's trajectory. Perfect for passionate fans and casual followers alike, this rundown offers expert insights into the shifting league landscape, highlighting the stories and trends that define baseball's ever-evolving narrative.
0:00 The Houston Astros won the American League West with an eighty-and-eighty-one record.0:05 Last week, we talked about the wild card chaos, the mad scramble for the last few chairs when the music stopped.0:13 Well, the music is over, and the team left with a division crown is one that couldn't even win half its games.0:20 The final day of the regular season locked the whole thing in.0:25 The field is set.0:26 In the American League, the Tampa Bay Rays and Cleveland Guardians get the first-round byes.0:32 That leaves the Wild Card series: the Boston Red Sox will travel to the Bronx to face the New York Yankees.0:39 And the Chicago White Sox will head down to Houston to play that sub-five-hundred Astros team.0:46 Over in the National League, the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers earned their rest.0:52 They’re waiting in the Division Series.0:54 In the meantime, the Philadelphia Phillies—who just barely held on—will go to Atlanta to face the Braves.1:02 And the Chicago Cubs will fly to the coast to take on the San Diego Padres.1:07 The biggest heartbreak?1:08 The Texas Rangers.1:09 They lost to the Twins, six to four, on the final day.1:13 That loss, combined with the Astros' win, handed the division to Houston.1:18 The two teams had identical records.1:20 But the Astros held the tiebreaker, winning the season series nine games to four.1:26 A season of work, gone, because of how you played your rival months ago.1:31 That’s baseball.1:32 And the Phillies… they needed every last out.1:35 They beat the Rays seven to three to clinch that final spot.1:39 The Arizona Diamondbacks were breathing down their necks, but a late surge wasn't enough.1:45 For Arizona, and for the Rangers, the season is over.1:49 Twelve teams are left.1:50 And for a few of them, they are limping—not charging—into October.1:55 The Phillies’ own Luis Arraez is dealing with a serious ankle injury.1:59 The Red Sox are sweating on catcher Willson Contreras and lost reliever Mickey Gasper for the postseason.2:06 And the Rays' ace, Shane McClanahan, is battling forearm tightness.2:11 You play all year to get here.2:13 But you have to be healthy when you arrive.2:16 So let's talk about the Houston Astros.2:19 An eighty-and-eighty-one record.2:21 The first division winner in the history of Major League Baseball to finish with a losing record.2:27 People are screaming about competitive balance, about the weakness of the AL West.2:33 And they’re not wrong.2:34 The division was a mess.2:36 But this isn't new.2:37 We’ve seen this before.2:39 Remember the 2010 Seattle Seahawks?2:41 In the NFL.2:42 They won their division with a seven-and-nine record.2:45 Everyone laughed.2:47 They were called the worst playoff team in history.2:50 They got to host a playoff game against the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints.2:56 A powerhouse.2:57 And what happened?2:58 The Seahawks WON.3:00 Marshawn Lynch created an earthquake.3:02 It was one of the biggest upsets in NFL history.3:05 That is the pattern.3:07 A weak division creates a champion of convenience.3:10 The playoff structure, in baseball as in football, rewards winning your local race, even if you’d get lapped in a league-wide marathon.3:19 The Astros are the 2026 version of those Seahawks.3:23 Derided.3:23 Underestimated.3:24 And getting to host a playoff series.3:27 But here’s where the analogy gets shaky.3:29 The NFL plays sixteen, now seventeen games.3:32 It’s a small sample size.3:34 A few lucky bounces can get a bad team into the postseason.3:38 Baseball plays one hundred and sixty-two games.3:41 That marathon is supposed to be the ultimate truth-teller.3:45 It’s designed to weed out the flukes, to separate the good from the mediocre.3:50 For a team to play six solid months of baseball and end up with a losing record… and STILL win a division… that is a statistical marvel.4:00 It tells you less about the Astros and more about the absolute failure of the Rangers, Angels, Athletics, and Mariners to mount any kind of serious challenge.4:10 So what does it all add up to?4:12 The Astros are not a good team on paper.4:15 Their record says so.4:16 But they are a playoff team by rule.4:19 They are the beneficiaries of a broken division.4:22 And now, none of it matters.4:24 The record is wiped clean.4:26 They are zero and zero.4:27 And they are playing the White Sox, a wild card team, at home.4:32 They have the same chance as the one-hundred-win Rays.4:35 That’s the beautiful, maddening absurdity of October.4:39 The regular season is about finding the best team.4:42 The postseason is about finding out who's playing best, right now.4:47 The Astros played losing baseball for six months.4:50 Now we find out if they can play winning baseball for one.4:54 Their story isn't about their eighty-one losses anymore.4:58 It’s about the eleven wins they need to shock the world.
